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July 30, 2014

UEFA has revealed the referee of the UEFA Super Cup final for this year which will be played at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on Tuesday 12 August.

English Mark Clattenburg has been appointed as referee of the all Spanish Final between Real Madrid and Seville. This will be the first European final for the 39 years old referee following a very good season which was crowned by the Europa League Semifinal 2nd Leg of Juventus and Benfica.

The following match situation is taken from Real Madrid - FC København) and belongs to the category Deliberate Handball?.

You
are warmly encouraged to participate in discussion by answering the
poll or placing a comment. UEFA's official solution for this situation including the
re-start of play will be published soon.

The following video is placed for educational purpose only.

UEFA's solution:
The blue defender has his arms close to the body and strikes the ball with his hands from close distance. This cannot be considered as a deliberate act. The referee correctly allows play to continue.

July 29, 2014

Spanish referee Javier Estrada Fernández has been selected by UEFA to handle the final of the 2014 U19 Euro Tournament in Hungary, to be played between Portugal and Germany. He will be assisted by Darren England (ENG) and Evgeni Belski (KAZ). Albanian Enea Jorgji will take the duties of fourth official.

A referee in Spanish Primera División since 2009 and FIFA listed since 2013, Estrada Fernández attended in Hungary his first important tournament at UEFA level. He officiated two matches in group stage, then working as fourth official in one semifinal.
With regard to the rest of the appointment, it will be the first time ever in a final of a UEFA tournament for a official from Kazakhstan. Evgeni Belski will have the honor to represent his country. The performance of the whole trio will be assessed by Jozef Marko, member of UEFA Referees Committee.

July 25, 2014

Referees apply the Laws of the Game in order to
protect the game. However, one of our primar goals should be also to function
as football’s servant who is interested in promoting and enhancing the game.

These are our reports for FIFA World Cup 2014. The referee performances have been analyzed in detail and will soon result in a final (statistical) review. The missing reports will be added in the next weeks.

The following match situation is taken from Cameroon - Brazil (World Cup 2014) and belongs to the category Assessing the Level of Punishment.

You
are warmly encouraged to participate in discussion by answering the
poll or placing a comment. Our solution for this situation including the
re-start of play will be published soon.

Interpretation:

Green defensive player #12 clearly holds Yellow attacking player #7 and thus stops a promising attack. Players, who stop promising attacks, must be cautioned with a yellow card.

89% of the users agreed with this interpretation.

In this case, the referee did not caution the player given the early moment in the game and only warned him verbally. This can be helpful in matches where it is recommended to start with a clear leniency allowing the referee to increase the level of disciplinary sanctions in a stepwise manner. However, referees should be reminded that they should issue clear yellow cards regardless of the moment in the game. Keep in mind that it might be also helpful to set a clear signal right at the start of the play that the illegal interference of promising attack will not be tolerated throughout the match (otherwise the likelihood is high that players will repeat this kind of misconduct, as they did not get cautioned).

Players who are about to enter the penalty area from the side with dynamic pace are often in a dangerous position to pass the ball to a large number of teammates who can receive the ball. These scenarios mostly are promising attacks.

July 16, 2014

Mexican Marco Rodríguez could have become the first referee ever to take part in four World Cups in his career, following his presences in Germany, South Africa and Brazil. Today, he has announced his retirement though.

July 15, 2014

The following match situation is taken from Germany - Argentina (World Cup final 2014) and belongs to the category Assessing the Level of Punishment.

You
are warmly encouraged to participate in discussion by answering the
poll or placing a comment. Our solution for this situation including the
re-start of play will be published soon.

Interpretation:

Green goalkeeper #1 makes unfair contact with an opponent by jumping at Blue #9 while or shortly after clearing the ball with his fist. Given the raised right knee, height and location of the contact (neck) and very high intensity as well as speed of the collision caused by the goalkeeper, he clearly endangered the safety of his opponent and used excessive force. The referee should have awarded a penalty kick for the attacking team and a red card against the goalkeeper.

An important criteria to determine whether a goalkeeper or any other player on the field of play has jumped at an opponent with excessive force are his raised knee(s) which often cause serious injuries. The circumstance that the goalkeeper successfully cleared the ball plays NO role in the assessment of the force he used when making the unfair contact with the opponent.

This interpretation has been approved by (inter-)national referee observers whom we consulted. However, UEFA's Referee Committee's directive is: No Foul, throw-in, because the ball was played.

Only 17% of the users agreed with our interpretation, while 59% did not notice a punishable offence in this collision (further 19% agreed with the penalty kick but deemed the goalkeeper's conduct as reckless, only requiring a yellow card).

The bad message for all football enthusiasts including me is: the World Cup is over and 1424 painful days are ahead of us. The good message for all football refereeing enthusiasts including me is: this, the 20th FIFA World Cup has luckily come to an end.

July 12, 2014

The following match situation is taken from Brazil - Mexico (World Cup 2014) and belongs to the category Assessing the Level of Punishment.

You
are warmly encouraged to participate in discussion by answering the
poll or placing a comment. Our solution for this situation including the
re-start of play will be published on Monday, 14 July.

Interpretation:

Defensive player Yellow #3 tries to make a challenge for the ball but makes unfair contact with Red #14 only. The studs of his left foot are shown but do not hit the opponent. The tackle is from behind and characterized by relatively high intensity.

Football refereeing is no black-or-white-world. If the referee consideres Yellow #3 having acted in a reckless manner, i.e. with complete disregard to the danger to or consequences for his opponent, and the level of intensity as insufficient for deeming it as "excessive force", he has to caution the offender with a yellow card. If however, in his opinion, Yellow #3 exceeded the necessary force and clearly endangered the safety of his opponent, he must send him off with a red card.

The referee should integrate the spirit of the game and his previous disciplinary approach into the judgment.

65% of the users favoured a yellow card and 33% a red card.2% were trolls.

July 11, 2014

Nicola Rizzoli, Renato Faverani, Andrea Stefani, Carlos Vera and Christian Lescano have been chosen to take charge of Sunday's top-class final between Germany and Argentina at Rio de Janeiro's Estádio do Maracanã. This has been confirmed by the world's football governing body FIFA in the late Brazilian afternoon.

The 42-year old Italian architect residing in Mirandola, close to Bologna, already refereed Argentina's wins over Nigeria (3:2, group stage) and Belgium (1:0 in the quarterfinals). Before having shown quite good performances in both matches mentioned, his team had already controlled the excitedly awaited remake of 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands (1:5). Besides Rizzoli's frequent companions Renato Faverani and Andrea Stefani, Massimo Busacca and his team have selected Ecuadorian Carlos Vera as the fourth official. The officiating team will be completed by Vera's countryman Christian Lescano as reserve assistant referee.

A UEFA Elite Group referee since June 2009, Rizzoli is used to the feeling and honour of being selected for a great final: In 2010, he oversaw Hamburg's UEFA Europa League final between Atlético Madrid and Fulham FC and three years later, he took control over the all-German UEFA Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München.

FIFA's Refereeing Department has
chosen Djamel Haimoudi and his team to take control over Match 63, the third place play-off between Brazil and the Netherlands in Brasilia. Yuichi Nishimura and Toru Sagara have been selected as fourth and fifth
official respectively.